Drown
by MrManiac
Summary: Chapter 3 up. A special crime scene makes Batman understand that maybe there´s something personal against him in the killings. Plus: Huntress becomes involved!
1. Shadows From The Past

Disclaimers: I don´t own any character. DC Comics does.  
No money is made with this story.  
Batman created by Bob Kane.  
  
  
  
"I will show you fear in a handful of dust." - T.S. Eliott.   
  
  
BATMAN: DROWN  
A Novel  
  
Prologue.  
  
We take a good look at the strange city in front of us.   
We wonder if we must go in there. It´s a dark, menacing place.   
We can see some of it´s amazing buildings, crawling up to the sky.   
Sometimes they look like the Titans should have been.  
So big, so cold. This city is drowning.   
Drowning in corruption.   
In crime.  
In evil.  
Gargoyles on the gothic constructions look at us and laugh in silence.  
And we wonder. What kind of stories have they witnessed?  
What if they could talk with those hard lips made of stone?  
What would they say to us with strange inhuman voices?  
  
There´s a creature that lives in that town. We know for sure.  
We´ve heard of it. Some say that´s a man.  
A man that´s trying to save the city from drowning forever in it´s own filth.  
  
But some say it´s a demon.   
A demon trying to win his right to return to heaven.  
A black, fallen angel. A dark, lonely knight.  
  
But we are really sure of one single fact:  
This is not a place for the sane.  
  
We think for a while.  
  
Should we go...?  
  
It´s a dark world over there.   
And the price could be too high.  
But that is what adventure is about, ain´t it?  
Taking chances.  
  
Shall we...?  
  
So close your eyes.  
And give your hand.  
Take a deep breath.  
  
Let´s go.  
  
Let darkness swallow us...  
  
* * *  
Who are you?  
  
I mean.  
  
Who are you, REALLY?  
  
* * *  
  
1: Shadows from the past.  
  
Gotham City.  
The day is just beginning at Waynecorp.Lucius Fox arrives at time every day.   
He is the head of the company after Bruce Wayne.  
He´s a good, honest man. Has a family to care for.  
He looks at the papers that lie all over his desk and moves his head.  
  
"Always a mess" he says and starts checking his mail.  
Nothing new, same old story for him. Each day the same.  
Still he does not care. He enjoys what he does.  
  
A good, honest, working man that enjoys his job.  
Some people could envy him.  
Some people could hate him.  
And some people... could use him.  
  
There´s also a single letter in Fox´s mail.   
One letter that has Mr Wayne´s name on it.  
Lucius looks at it.   
There is no indication on the envelope that say anything about who send it.  
Fox doubts but then he opens it.  
  
Only one page. No signature. The text is really strange.  
  
"El diablo sabe por diablo pero más sabe por viejo."  
  
Some threat? What the hell is that?  
Lucius puts the paper back inside the envelop and quickly goes   
to Bruce Wayne´s office. He enters without knocking as he has done since  
Bruce allowed him to do so.   
  
Bruce is not there yet. He writes something in a small paper and puts   
the envelop and what he just wrote on Wayne´s desk.   
Then he goes back to work forgetting about the letter.   
There are more important things to do.  
  
* * *  
  
"Good, morning. Harvey. Meet Judge William Scheider" Detective Montoya said.   
"What an awful way to leave."  
  
"I know him. Not personally. of course" Harvey Bullock, her partner   
and friend answered. As usually, he was eating a jelly donut he just bought nearby.   
  
"It makes me sick when they do this to good, decent people. Family?"  
  
"He´s... was, I mean, divorced. No kids."  
  
"Thank God. Who found him?"  
  
"His brother, Jack. Only an hour ago."  
  
"What does the medical inspector say?"  
  
"Seems he was poisoned. Still, we must wait for the autopsy to be sure.  
But, look at him, Harvey. He looks like... I don´t know strange.  
Something on his expression. Like he died in a lot of pain."  
  
"Some strong poison, uh?" Harvey looked at the body. "He was in shape too.   
Not bad for a man of... What? 50? 60 years?"  
  
William Scheider was lying on his back, naked, a few feets from his bed.  
His eyes were still open and, in them, you could still see the suffering   
he went through before death came and claimed him.  
  
"Actually he was 68..." Montoya said.  
  
"This is crap." Bullock said. "This feels like... the beginning of something."  
The fat detective exhaled smoke and closed his eyes for some seconds.  
"Well..." he said "This night we should put that damn beam in the sky and call him...  
He sure will know what´s going on..."  
  
Montoya looked at Bullock in desbelief.  
"You think... HE will know what happenned before we do?"  
  
Bullock allowed himself to laugh loud. His chuckle made some of the officers   
at the crime scene to look at him like he had gone mad or something.  
  
"He always knows things we ignore, Montoya. He always knows.   
You should remember. You´re not a rookie anymore..."  
  
* * *  
The sun has just went down.   
A few minutes later a big signal with a big black batrules in the sky.   
But the man who has to answer is busy.   
Very busy.  
  
He has been following Shukiro Matzada for almost two days.   
Now he has found him on the roofs near the old deck.  
The ninja´s knife has passed too close to his throat more than   
a couple of times. His chest is bleeding.   
The fight in the rooftop has been a lot harder than what he expected.  
And longer too.  
  
"Give it up, Matzada!"  
  
"No, Batman. You should give up, if you don´t want to end up dead."  
There is respect in the ninja´s eyes.  
But no fear.  
  
Batman gives two steps back and into the shadows on the roof.  
  
"You´ve killed a man. I can´t let you go, Matzada." the Dark Knight says in   
a menacing voice. The ninja is not affected.   
Not even intimidated. He throws a blade directed to Batman´s heart.  
Batman blocks it with his cape and the knife dissappears   
in the darkness with a low, metallic noise.  
  
"I´ve got a code of honor, Batman. I´ve only made my work. Now, get away."  
  
The two men stand up in silence looking at each other in silence.  
If you could see them from a distance you´d think they are both statues   
from the past. A violent, more savage past.  
  
"I don´t want to kill you. Get away."  
  
Batman moves his cape making himself look like a terryfing fiend from hell.  
A demon of doom with white, disturbing eyes.  
  
"You know I won´t, Matzada."  
  
The ninja takes a deep breath.   
Then, with a movement too fast for the human eye,   
he takes out the sword that is hidden on the back of his body.  
  
"Then, fool, you´ll die."  
  
"One day..."   
  
The ninja jumps towards him like a big savage tiger   
and the sword almost touchs Batman´s face.   
He feels the cold blade so very close...  
  
This time Matzada´s face is only one second without cover.  
One second is enough for Batman´s fist to land   
on the ninja´s mouth with a wet noise.  
Crack.  
Matzada, caught by surprise, is groggy.   
He trips and falls from the roof.  
Batman hears the noise when the ninja hits the water.  
  
"...But not today." he says.  
  
* * *  
  
Comissioner Gordon gave up smoking some time ago, when he had a heart attack.  
Since then his life has been not easy for a lot of motives.  
He looks up at the sky and sees the signal invading the clouds of the night.   
He knows his friend will be there soon.  
Jim puts his hand inside his pocket and takes a mint.  
  
"You know, I think I´m addicted to these damn mints..." Gordon says chuckling.  
  
"Not a dangerous addiction at all" the voice in the darkness answers.  
  
Gordon turns and looks into the shadows behind him.   
If we were there, with him we could not see anything.  
  
"You know something about addiction, right?"  
  
Three seconds passed.  
  
"Yes." Batman answered.  
  
"Well, we all have our rough nights. Of course, you had more of that   
than anyone I´ve met before."  
  
Gordon takes another mint and he is suddenly serious.  
  
"You got your killer, right?"  
  
Batman comes out of the darkness slowly. He nods.  
James Gordon looks at him carefully and sees not   
a single muscle moves on the Dark Crusader´s face.   
He knows Batman enough to tell when the fire of obssesion in him is turning off.   
Batman was obsessed with that killer.   
Now, it´s like a big weight off his shoulders.  
Jim remembers the first time he saw Batman really obssessed.   
So many years ago, when a maniac was on a killing spree.  
The victims were all old people. Batman got sick but still managed to catch the killer.  
"Mr. Lime" was the nick name that bastard used.  
Gordon feels good for his friend now.   
But he´s affraid the fire will be up again on him.  
And will devour him.  
Soon.  
  
Very soon.  
  
"Maybe one day you´ll tell me why you were so interested in this   
killer specially. I mean, it´s not the only killer you´ve caught."  
  
"One day, maybe."  
  
Gordon smiles and takes a big brown envelope from his pocket.  
He puts it on Batman´s open hand.   
The Dark Knight opens it and looks at it´s content.  
A low growl comes out of his mouth.  
  
"Name´s Scheider. William. One hell of a Judge. Found dead last night.   
The medical inspector first told us he could have been poisoned.   
But then, autopsy revealed no traces of any kind of poison in his body.  
Even though, for what the pictures show, it looks like he died in a whole lotta pain.  
Strange stuff if you ask me."  
  
When Gordon turns Batman is not there anymore.  
  
"Oh, of course. See you around."  
  
* * *  
  
The Dark Knight hurled his line and then himself into the dark Gotham night.  
He did not know Scheider in a personal way.  
But he knew he was an honest man.  
Batman tried to order his mind.  
  
This could be a vendetta. Classic. Revenge on a judge.  
Someone who had a reason.   
But that was too easy.   
Revenge?  
  
Batman had doubts. The way the judge was killed...  
Some kind of drug. Some kind of venom...  
  
"Who are you?"  
  
Batman landed on a roof nearby and looked around ready to fight.  
  
That voice... Where did it came from?  
  
No one in sight and it sounded like someone whispered on his ear.  
  
Strange. Very Strange.  
  
Batman stayed one hour standing in that roof.  
  
* * * 


	2. Man On The Prowl

"Tempo." - Jovanotti.  
  
2: Man on the prowl   
  
Shukiro Matzada is waiting in a jail. You know, being in a jail is something  
not many people can stand. They usually break down, you know.   
Crying, hysteria, yelling.  
Madness.  
But Matzada is sitting with his legs crossed, his eyes closed, his soul absent.  
  
He is unarmed but he has already hurt another prisoner that attacked him.  
He is a dangerous man.  
He is a murderer.  
  
Still, he travels with his mind.   
He´s far away from that dark and wet cell, where  
the stink of piss and vomit is almost unbearable.   
Matzada is in Japan thanks to the power of his mind.  
And he´s talking to his master now.  
His dead master.  
  
"I´ve failed. I´ve lost my honor, master."  
  
"You´ve already lost your honor, rising star. You lost it the first time you murdered..."  
  
"Master... I..."  
  
"Don´t call me that. You´ve got yourself a new master. A Huntress.   
A killer. Someone who despises life more than anything..."  
  
"Master... No... she´s..."  
  
"Why, Shukiro? Why on earth did you fall into that witch´s trap?"  
  
Shukiro´s face is not moving but a single tear comes from his closed   
eye and runs through a cheek that´s hard as a carved stone.  
  
"I... love her, Master... Master? Master???"  
  
But there is not another answer.   
And the man in the jail begs for his old master,   
dead by his own damned hand, to forgive him.  
  
But there´s still not another answer.  
  
* * *  
  
"You certainly receive mail from very interesting people, Master Bruce."  
  
Alfred´s remark made Bruce turn and stare at the butler´s face with a   
worried look. Still, only Alfred could tell that Bruce´s face had signs   
of trouble. He knew him well.   
If we were there, of course, we could not see the difference.  
  
"Listen to this: ´El diablo sabe por diablo, pero más sabe por viejo´, Alfred."  
  
Alfred´s left eyebrown moved up a little. But he did not move.   
The soup in the plate he was carrying was quiet as a freezed river.   
  
"Hmmm... ´The devil knows because he´s the devil but he knows more because he´s old...´   
isn´t that right, Master Bruce?"   
  
Bruce was sitting in front of the gigantic computer panel.   
His cape and cowl where hanging from a chair nearby but he was still   
wearing the rest of the suit except for the belt.   
He walked around and looked again at Alfred.  
  
"That was what came in an envelope addressed for me at the office today."  
  
Alfred came near Bruce and put the plate with soup in the table near the computer.  
  
"Why do I suppose that´s not a letter from one of your many girlfriends, Master Bruce?"  
  
Bruce looked up, at the bats sleeping at the top of the cave.  
Those creatures would repel us if we were there but to him... they are like family.  
  
"It´s not. It´s something else. Still..."  
  
"You´re thinking about someone you could call ´devil´, Sir?"  
  
Bruce turned and put a hand over his mouth.   
He was very serious.  
But then, he always was very serious.  
  
"Ra´s... But it´s way too easy..."  
  
"May I say this kind of... ways does not seem at all like his   
methods, Master Bruce? He has always showed some kind of... wicked moral"   
  
Bruce showed a brief smile on his face and passed a hand over his black hair,   
like he was trying to put away some kind of disturbing memory.  
  
"Maybe it´s just a prank, maybe I should let it go,   
and keep thinking about the murdered judge..."  
  
There was silence in that cold cave for a few seconds and neither   
of the two men in there were moving.  
  
"...But?"  
  
Bruce grabbed his cape and cowl and jumped into the batmobile.  
  
"But I´m sure it´s threat..."  
  
The batmobile roared, a flame emerged from it´s back and the black car left the cave   
with incredible speed. It seemed like a black wild dragon from modern times.  
Alfred looked at the forgotten plate with soup on the table and raised his left eyebrow.  
  
"I hope Kentucky Fried Chicken is open at this hour..."   
  
* * *  
  
Arkham Asylum.  
Does that name ring a bell to you?  
Maybe you´ve heard of that strange place.  
It´s a special place where special people are safe from the world outside.  
And the world outside is safe from them.   
  
Amadeus Arkham was the one who created that asylum.  
He died, ill from his own madness.   
But that´s a story that´s been told somewhere else.  
  
Now.  
  
A Dark Knight enters the asylum and the guards at the door   
secretly hope this time things will stay quiet in that dreadful pit.  
  
Arkham´s nephew is in charge of the Asylum now. But he´s not there now.  
Batman is received by Dr. Martin Brosky who shakes hands with him in his office.  
  
  
"Batman. I was waiting for you... But I still think you´re..."  
  
"Doctor I have my reasons to believe she´s behind all this.  
I´ve seen her do this kind of things before. I just want to know why..."  
  
Brosky, moves his head and serves himself a whisky.   
Then he proceeds to swallow it after offering a glass to the Dark Knight.  
  
"I do not drink. But I don´t understand why you do.  
You are running an Asylum at this time."  
  
Dr. Brosky smiles and says that pressure is too much, that living in that place,  
hearing all the things he does every day makes him thank that the only   
thing he does is drink.  
  
"It could be much worse, Batman. Oh, This is Dr. Andrés Carnevali.   
He will take you to her cell."  
  
Dr. Carnevali enters the room and shakes Batman´s hand with admiration.  
He is a brown haired man, with light in his tiny eyes and grown hairy beard.  
Batman follows him through the halls and after they leave the office  
Martin Brosky drinks another whisky.  
This time he makes it double.  
  
"So, you think she´s involved, Batman?" Dr. Carnevali asks with a funny south-american accent.  
  
"I´m not sure. But there´s one man dead. I´m sure he was poisoned."  
  
Dr. Carnevali twists his mouth but he does not look back at Batman´s face.  
Batman understands he´s not agreeing with him.  
  
"Well, the thing is she´s been here for months... and she´s sick..."  
  
Batman does not answer. But his mind is racing.  
Sick? Her? Sick from what?  
Her body was a place full of toxins that could kill you in the most painfuls ways.  
  
They arrive at the cell and lights inside of it suddenly iluminate the place.  
There´s a glass that does not let them make contact with the person inside.  
Not that she needs to make contact to control you.  
  
Really.  
  
"Pamela Isley, wake up." Dr. Carnevali says.  
  
The woman does not move from her bed. She´s still lying.  
Sleeping, dreaming with things we could never understand.  
  
"Pamela Isley..." Dr. Carnevali repeats.  
  
But the woman does not even twitch.  
She´s frozen in her bed like an old greek statue.  
  
"Poison Ivy!" Batman says.  
  
This time, the woman, the beautiful woman with green skin moves.  
And she rises from the cold sheets of that hard bed.   
Ivy faces the man that has caught her so many times she has lost count.  
The man that once she loved in her own twisted, demented way.  
  
But she never admited that. To anybody.  
Not even to herself.   
* * *  
  
The streets of Gotham tremble when the Batmobile runs through them.  
And the man inside that rocket is too busy.   
The police radio says there´s another death.   
As he approachs the place the radio is telling his mind remembers what   
has just happenned at the Asylum.  
  
Have you ever been in love? Maybe you´ve.  
But believe me, you´ve not met love until you´ve meet her.  
She´ll make you love her, like a dog to it´s master, you´ll never leave her side.  
You´ll see her everywhere you go. And also in your dreams.  
  
She´s everything you want. She´s your deepest desire.  
She´s wandering around that dark corner of your mind, the one that sometimes  
hurt when you think about something unpleasant and you just say "stop it!"   
to yourself. But she can make all hurt and pain, all fear and despair,   
all your troubles go away.  
And she´ll make you free. Free at last. She will give her gift.  
And you´ll take it.  
Believe me.  
You couldn´t be more happier to meet death.  
  
"Well... hello, you..." Poison Ivy said to Batman.  
  
Her green skin was bright and beautiful, her powerful green eyes looked   
at Batman with a mix of sympathy and hate.  
And Ivy smiled with those wonderful red lips showing her perfect white teeth.  
  
But she was not the Ivy Batman was used to confront.  
She semed tired and thinner.   
And there was a sign of pain as she moved towards the glass.  
Towards him.  
  
"Judge William Scheider." Batman said.  
  
Ivy moved her head and her long red hair fell over her emerald shoulders.  
She sat in a chair near the glass and made a noise of comfort.   
Almost like she needed to sit down.  
  
"Who´s that?" she said coldly.  
  
"He´s dead, Ivy. Killed by some kind of untraceable poison."  
  
Ivy crossed her legs (those wonderful legs) and slowly leaned back on the chair.  
Her face showed an uninterested expression.  
  
"How do you know it´s poison what killed him? If it´s untraceable..."  
  
"Are you sick, Ivy?"  
  
She was surprised by Batman´s sudden question and her eyes looked   
at the caped crusader with something between disbelief and fear.  
  
"Yes..."  
  
"Since when?"  
  
Ivy couldn´t help herself. She laughed out loud.   
A laugh that was nearer to hysteria than to simple fun.  
  
"You don´t even ask me how I feel? You don´t wish me to get better, Batty?  
That´s so like you..."  
  
"You´ve killed many people, Ivy. I don´t forget that."  
  
"Then you´ll be happy to know I´m sick.   
I don´t know what´s wrong with me and doctors are afraid to come near me.   
Even though some of them would gladly die only to touch me one time..."  
  
Another laugh, followed by a cough that Ivy covered well with a quick smile.  
There was a tear on her left eye.  
  
"Maybe all these toxins that run through my whole body finally are working   
for me. Maybe I´ll be dead by own power. Isn´t that ironic?"  
  
"Since when have you been like this?"  
  
"Ohhh... maybe a month, maybe a month and a half.   
It started so slowly that I almost did not feel it.   
But now, now I am feeling it."  
  
Another cough. This time Ivy did not try to cover it up.  
  
"I´m not sure how much time I have. So nice of you to drop by.  
See you."  
  
She stood up and walked back to her bed.   
It seemed like every step she made hurt her bad.  
She laid and covered herself up and did not make another noise.  
  
* * * 


	3. A Heap Of Broken Images

"I´m Daniel waiting in the Lion´s Den" - Bruce Springsteen  
  
3: A Heap Of Broken Images  
  
Who are you?  
  
I mean.  
  
Who are you, REALLY?  
  
* * *  
  
"Here you are. It´s this way." Gordon said.   
Batman followed him along the dark corridor until they arrived   
to the door at the end of it. The place was full of that funny   
antiseptic smell.  
  
He was at Gotham General Hospital. Batman knew that place very well.  
Bruce used to play in that place many years ago. When he was a kid.  
When his father lived.  
  
He read the inscription writen with big black letters on the office´s door:   
"Caleb Goldstein - Psychiatrist."  
  
"He was working until late today, like every tuesday.   
The cleaning lady found him. She´s hysterical.   
But take a look for yourself."  
  
When Gordon opened the door Batman stepped into the room first.  
He had seen many deaths, many corpses but he still was not used to it.  
He would probably never be.   
  
Dr. Caleb Goldstein, 69 years old, was naked sitting on his chair   
in front of his desk. His face had a painful expression.   
He had died hurting. Hurting a lot.   
There was dry saliva and blood coming out of his mouth and his   
left arm had been cut right above the elbow.   
The floor was red with some blood. But the wound was cauterized.  
Even though he was wearing no clothes, Goldstein was still wearing a tie.  
  
Batman had not seen it yet but it didn´t took him long.   
He felt something, like cold fingers touching the back of his neck   
and he turned his head slowly to the right.  
  
There it was. All over the wall.  
  
A big note written with blood that went from the ceiling to the floor.  
Batman moved towards it.  
  
"BATMAN"  
  
And written below that: "FIND ME"  
  
"He´s been dead for at least four hours.  
Whoever did this knows you´re after him. And cut Goldstein´s arm   
just to write... that." Gordon said.  
  
"Whoever did this took his time, Gordon..."  
  
Batman looked at the messagge and came closer.  
The blood was all over some pictures that were still hanging.  
He saw the Doctor´s license carefully and every picture on that bloody wall.  
All the pictures´ crystals were broken. Smashed.   
  
He had a strange hunch, not something we could understand in him.  
He was a man of logic not of hunchs. But the message on the wall,   
the pictures full of blood... there was something more in there.  
  
"Here." Batman said and that made Gordon come closer too.  
  
"What? What is it?"  
  
"This man. This man in this picture..."  
  
Batman took a picture from the wall and showed it to Gordon.  
In that photo you could see Dr. Goldstein forty years ago  
sitting on what seemed the entrance of Gotham University.   
There were other five persons sitting with him.  
They were all smiling.  
  
"That´s Goldstein." Gordon said.  
  
"Yes. But The other man near him."  
  
Gordon opened his eyes in disbelief.   
He had seen that other man.  
Dead. Just some days ago.  
  
"That´s Professor Akiro Narayama!"  
  
Batman did not move his face but his tone of voice was suddenly different.  
Like he was trying not to show he was boiling with rage.  
  
"The man Shukiro Matzada killed two weeks ago."  
  
* * *  
  
Batman stood in the top of Gotham tower and looked at his city.  
He was still thinking about that picture even though he examined   
the whole office very carefully. He was a detective, after all.  
  
Akiro Narayama.   
Batman had seen that particular photo before.  
It was on his own house. On his father´s study.  
  
Thomas Wayne was standing at Akiro´s side.   
Bruce remembered Akiro as a nice, kind man.  
He was a professor interested in physics and genetic.  
He was a good friend of Thomas even though their interests   
were different.  
  
Of course Matzada said during the interrogation that he did   
what some Japanese mafia hired him to do.  
The he stayed silent. He accepted all charges for murder.  
  
Matzada had beheaded Akiro without any effort.  
Then Dr. Goldstein was dead. And, just like Scheider, it seemed   
he was killed with some kind of poison.  
Except for the arm wound.  
  
But Matzada had nothing to do with neither Goldstein or Scheider.  
And that note in the wall. Someone was adressing to Batman.  
And Batman was waiting in the den.   
Waiting for that hunter to come and get him.  
He was not afraid.  
Not at all.   
  
What then?  
  
Batman hurled his line and himself into the night.  
He would exchange some words with Matzada.  
He did not care about his silence.  
Matzada would talk to him.  
  
He would.  
  
* * *  
  
Before a bullet went right into her spine she was Batgirl.  
Now she is called Oracle.   
A know it all (unknow for some) character that helps   
the Dark Knight (and others) to fight crime.   
But we look at her and see she´s so beautiful, so sweet,  
we don´t like neither of her names.   
  
We prefer to call her Barbara.  
  
If she could heard us calling her that she would smile to us.  
That would be enough for me.  
How about you?  
  
Yes, that´s what I thought.  
  
"...and that´s all I have. There´s not enough information about him."  
  
"He´s a ninja. I´m not surprised."  
  
"You never are. Listen: I´ll send Nightwing to help you."  
  
"It´s not necessary."  
  
"If someone is sending you messages, then it´s possible that someone   
is planning to attack you. And if you´re alone..."  
  
"Not necessary."  
  
"Ok... You´re the boss.."  
  
"But send Nightwing to Arkham. I need someone to inform me about something   
strange happening there..."  
  
"Something. Something like what?"  
  
"Anything."  
* * *  
  
Huntress had heard almost all the conversation. Her device was connected   
when Barbara and Batman were talking and she was quite pleased to discover   
Oracle was not using an independent line.   
  
A killer. A ninja.  
Time to prove to the damned Bat that The huntress was worthy   
of his respect. She jumped from the roof where she was standing   
and landed quietly, effortessly on her bike.   
It roared and Huntress was, in seconds, lost in the dark night.  
* * *  
  
The Police Headquarters.  
The guard that leads Batman to Matzada´s cell smells   
like coffee and cigarettes. The cell where Matzada spends his days,   
waiting his transfer to Blackgate, is dark and wet.  
Shukiro is lying on his bed with the sheets covering him completely.   
Not a nice place to be.  
"Déja vú" Batman thinks.  
They step behind the bars and the guard calls the man in the bed.  
  
"Get up, Matzada."  
  
No answer. Not a single movement.  
  
"Open the door. Now!" Batman suddenly orders.  
  
"What? No, I can´t open the d..."  
  
"Look at his feet. Does he always sleep with the same kind of   
boots that you are wearing now?  
  
The guard opens his mouth, making an incredible stupid expression.  
Then he realizes the truth.  
  
"My God..." he says as he opens the door quite fast.  
  
Batman gets into the cell and moves the sheets discovering the body.  
A guard. Dead. Wearing Matzada´s clothes.  
Batman touches the man´s pulse. Nothing.  
No more than ten minutes dead he concludes.  
  
"Is he...?"  
  
"Yes. Set the alarm. Matzada must still be around.  
And maybe he´s still wearing this poor man´s clothes"  
  
* * * 


End file.
